Verlander, Young lead Tigers over Yankees 5-4

DETROIT — Justin Verlander struck out 11 in eight gritty innings and Jose Valverde stopped a New York Yankees rally for the second straight night, whiffing Derek Jeter with two on to close out the Detroit Tigers’ 5-4 victory Monday.

Delmon Young hit a tiebreaking homer in seventh off Rafael Soriano and the Tigers took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five American League playoff, pushing the Yankees to the brink of elimination.

Their hopes ride Tuesday night on A.J. Burnett, the $82.5 million pitcher who was so unreliable this season that he wasn’t supposed to get a start in this series. A rainstorm changed all that when Game 1 was suspended Friday night, forcing both teams to alter their pitching plans.

Verlander and New York ace CC Sabathia were back on the mound after their series-opening matchup at Yankee Stadium was halted after only 1 1/2 innings.

Story continues below advertisement.

While Sabathia didn’t make it through the sixth Monday, Verlander was still hitting 100 mph on the stadium radar gun in the eighth.

Valverde took over in the ninth — and another dramatic ending followed. The All-Star closer, who was perfect in 49 save chances this season, walked two and got a warning-track flyout before striking out Jeter to end it.

Trailing by four in the ninth on Sunday, the Yankees scored twice against Valverde before he got Robinson Cano to ground out with two on to close out a 5-3 victory in Game 2.

After two games in New York that took three rainy days to finish, Comerica Park was dry on Monday, with the exception of the fountains beyond center field. The Yankees managed two quick runs off Verlander in the first, but the 24-game winner settled down. He appeared to be laboring at times, allowing four runs, six hits and three walks, but he stayed in for 120 pitches and Detroit produced just enough offense.

Brett Gardner tied it for the Yankees with a two-run double in the seventh, but Young answered with a line drive that barely cleared the wall in right field to give the Tigers a 5-4 lead.

It was reminiscent of Young’s homer in Game 1 at Yankee Stadium — which came before a downpour Friday night that forced that game to be suspended and knocked both Verlander and Sabathia out for a couple of days.

Valverde, who threw 34 pitches in a non-save situation Sunday, was back for the ninth a day later. He had playfully declared the series was “over” after Game 2, and the Yankees nearly made him eat his words, but Jeter struck out swinging with runners at first and second.

Sabathia allowed four runs and seven hits with six walks in 5 1-3 innings.

Verlander, who led the American League in wins, ERA and strikeouts, was a bit erratic in his lone inning of work Friday, walking two and allowing a run before the rain ended his outing. The first inning went even worse for him Monday. Jeter hit Verlander’s first pitch right back up the middle for a single, then Curtis Granderson’s drive sailed over the head of Austin Jackson in left-center for an RBI triple.

Alex Rodriguez made it 2-0 with an RBI groundout.

Sabathia had even more problems, walking four of the first six hitters he faced, but Detroit grounded into double plays in each of the first two innings and didn’t score.

Brandon Inge doubled to left-center in the third for Detroit’s first hit, and Jackson walked. Ramon Santiago failed to get a bunt down but made up for it by lining an RBI single to left.

After Young’s single, Miguel Cabrera — who homered in drove in three runs in Game 2 — came to the plate with the bases loaded and nobody out.

With the crowd on its feet waving white towels, Cabrera grounded into Detroit’s third double play in three innings — but this one tied the game at 2.

Verlander found his groove during the middle innings. He struck out Nick Swisher for the third out of the fourth, then struck out the side on 10 pitches in the fifth, leaving the New York hitters looking helpless as his sweeping breaking ball dropped over the plate.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland altered his lineup slightly from Game 1 against Sabathia, putting Santiago at second base instead of Ryan Raburn and batting him second. Santiago has hit .292 against Sabathia (7 for 24) in the regular season, while Raburn is 4 for 23 against the New York ace.

Sure enough, in the bottom of the fifth, with one out and a man on second, Santiago hit an RBI double to left-center to make it 3-2.

Detroit added another run off Sabathia in the sixth. Jhonny Peralta followed Don Kelly’s bunt single with a double to left that appeared to bounce off a pole in the fence, caroming strangely to the left while the runner came around to score.

After walking Jorge Posada with two outs in the seventh, Verlander stood behind the mound briefly to gather himself. It didn’t work — he then hit Russell Martin in the ribs with one of his triple-digit fastballs, putting runners on first and second.

Gardner lined a 3-2 pitch from Verlander to left-center. By the time Jackson raced over to retrieve the ball and unleashed a mediocre throw back to the infield, both runners were on their way home for a 4-all tie.